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Showing posts from June, 2023

Book Review: "Nine Black Robes" by Joan Biskupic

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  *Spoiler alert!* 4/5 stars Because this book is not written in the most optimistic of tones, upon finishing it I had to take some time to digest its findings before I wrote this review. Mindfulness and deep breathing were also required. Nine Black Robes , by knowledgeable court reporter Joan Biskupic, is a historic look at the Supreme Court’s dramatic swing to the right. One could be forgiven for thinking that this shift seemed to happen more recently, but Biskupic reveals that the Court has been for decades moving rightward incrementally. The culmination of decades of judicial appointments—at the high court and lower courts alike—influenced by conservative legal groups, such as the Federalist Society, was the striking down of the 50-year-old precedent of Roe v Wade that protected a woman’s constitutional right to make decisions about her reproductive life. (You have to laugh, otherwise you are going to cry. I am fun at parties.) Notwithstanding whether or not one feels th...

Book Review: "How to Stand Up to a Dictator" by Maria Ressa

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4/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* How to Stand Up to a Dictator is by Nobel Prize-winning Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa. This book chronicles her life in both the Philippines—where she was born—and the United States, where she came up in the journalism profession in its golden age. While it covers her whole career, it particularly focuses on her high-profile fights against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. Seeing the rise of disinformation on a global level, Ressa founded her own media company, Rappler, with a few journalist friends. The goal being to try and design a media company that was as agile in challenging disinformation as disinformation itself was given a massive platform combined with those knowledgeable in propaganda and censorship pulling the strings. Why should we care about disinformation and the concurrent rise of far-right elements? Well, democracy is inherently vulnerable when people cannot agree on the basic reality we all inhabit. Disinformation i...

Book Review: "Lords of Uncreation" by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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  4/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* Lords of Uncreation brings to the end another fantastic sci-fi opera trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The third and final entry in the “Final Architecture” series wrapped up an outstanding story about humanity at war with moon-sized entities that destroy planets, also known as Architects. I heartily enjoyed the complex characters Tchaikovsky gives us in the “Final Architecture” series as well as the moral complexities of war explored, and the different forms life can (could) take in the universe. This book brings to a nail-biting close a war on which humanity’s very fate hangs. Having discovered and taken over ownership of the Eye, an Originator tool allowing Intermediaries (Ints) to peer into unspace (a realm underlying the universe we know, of matter and life). The desperation of humanity brings to the fore an unfortunate plan to essentially kill all the Architects in their unspace nursery—located by the Eye to great fanfare—before the Architects can ...

Book Review: "Captain Carter" by Jamie McKelvie

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  4/5 stars *Spoiler alert!* I have come to comics a bit later in life than childhood, primarily due to the Marvel movies and TV series, but better late than never. Besides, I can't resist a what-if scenario, such as the one posited by Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time , where SHIELD agent Margaret Carter takes the super soldier serum, not Steve Rogers (aka Captain America). It is Carter that is pulled out of the ice in this universe and has to adjust to the complexities of modern life in Britain. As Captain Carter is trying to find her feet, the British Prime Minister (PM) enlists her help in countering what apparently is a resurgence of the infamous HYDRA group from the war. The national atmosphere of fear and paranoia in Captain Carter was reminiscent to me of what happened after 9/11, in particular the passing of Patriot Act-like security legislation to counter the threat of terrorism. That and the politics of civil liberties and security theater. I liked the echoes of our re...